The American Forum: Is Faster Better?

The American Forum this past Tuesday stressed the fact that faster is not always better when it comes to the distribution of news in society today.

Melinda Wittstock, Founder and CEO of Capital News Connection, says, "You can be fast and correct and still miss the story, "in reference to the emerging forms of media, such as blogging and web casts.

The American Forum held at American University looked at the state of journalism in the world today as an, "Endangered Specie".  Consisting of multiple panelists, and moderated by Wendell Cochran, an Associate Professor at the School of Communication, the forum gave its perspective on the effects that newer forms of reporting have on American people and democracy.  While these new forms may be faster, they do not have the same values as traditional journalism, and they amount to a great expense as well.

Tyler Marshall, a Pulitzer Prize winning Journalist, gave his insight on what's happening in journalism today.  He depicted how mainstream media staff levels are declining as the media itself is transforming.  There has been a dramatic increase in the MISH (magazine, newsletters, and online communication) media, as well as a sharp increase in foreign correspondents, he says.

This new migration of reporters into MISH media has led to the ongoing question of just how well our citizen are informed.  Traditional print and broadcast reporters have trusted sources that were gained in their intense background of investigative reporting.  But some aspects of MISH media take advantage of the less experienced reporters, who lack these connection of sources.

Suzanne Struglinski, Senior Editor of Provider magazine, says in agreement with Tyler, "their not going to pay attention like a local newspaper's background.  Local news have sources and mainstream doesn't."

Mark Whitaker, the Senior Vice President for NBC News, gives his opinion to the wave of uncertainty among MISH journalists.  he says that a lot of their sources come from other journalists, saying, "We give away our content for free."

On the other hand, Melinda recently ventured into this new form of news.  Her company, Capital News connection, is an independent service that provides public radio station with localized coverage of Congress.

Melinda stresses the importance of being the eyes and ears of the news, but also thinking in a different way.  She understand that people today demand photos,  videos, and the writing.  And, her company aims to be apart of this.  But, most important, she says she wants to maintain the eyewitness journalism.

"We'll grab people coming out of the bathroom," she says in reference to the decreasing efforts made to gain trusted news.

Wendell recounted a statement that his friend once made.  "We can't let those people run around Washington without a chaperon."

Melinda agrees and says, "Citizens want this news.  Someone has to be the watchdog."

But this new form of news has other downsides as well, including its cost.  "There is a lot of intriguing stuff out there," says Melinda, "but someone has to pay for it."

While it costs a lot to simply produce the news into a web cast, the majority of the cost derives from being in that hot-and-heavy location of the news.  Melinda goes to say, "At the height of violence in Iraq, you need a news organization to keep you safe."  These MISH journalists need to be paired with a team of specialists to  keep everything in line, which many of these new branches lack.

Yet, on a more positive note, this new form of media is helping print journalists.  They call attention to their printed stories and offer them jobs in other areas of the media as well.  "The Internet is adding jobs," says Tyler.  "The only area of growth is web related."

Tyler goes on to say that journalists are going to go where the paycheck is.  He describes this transition of journalists from the print to the MISH media as a couple of magnets.

"At one point mainstream was very rich," he says.  "But the collapse was very swift and the magnet that drew reporters is gone.  Now those reporters because there are no jobs in print and broadcast move in the other direction."

Journalists today, therefore, must have as many multimedia skills possible to compete with the emergence of the MISH.  Yet, Suzanne says that the most basic skill is still the art of reporting.  "Whatever role, they will follow you," she says.  "Don't be discouraged.  Take a risk."

Perhaps the main issue with the emergence of MISH is not that new forms are developing, but the new forms of reporting are developing that do not require the strict standards they one had.  But, if the true journalists continue to do straight up news, people will begin to tell the difference between what is fact and what is fiction.

By the end of the forum, there is still one thing that all of these journalists agree on: reporting is till the best job in the world.  Whether you want a front seat to history, as Suzanne says she desires, or simply avoiding boredom like Melinda, reporting can give you a taste of everything.  And, as Mark says, "It beats Wall Street."